Farmer Can Sue Bank That Advertised Auction Of His Property, Court Rules

February 03, 1989|By William Grady, Legal affairs writer.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a Downstate farmer could bring a lawsuit against a bank that announced a public auction of his property without notifying him first.

The court ruled that Harold A. Lovgren, who owned a 240-acre farm near Princeton, Ill., had grounds to bring an invasion-of-privacy suit against the Citizens First National Bank of Princeton, which had held a second mortgage on his property.

When Lovgren fell behind on his payments, bank employees urged him to sell his property, according to the ruling. When he refused, the bank placed advertisments in local newspapers and circulated handbills announcing a public auction for Nov. 25, 1985. Lovgren said no such auction was scheduled and he was never told about the plans before they were announced.

Lovgren filed suit in Bureau County Circuit Court in the fall of 1986, contending that the announcement of the auction violated his right of privacy. The suit also charged that notice of the sale made it impossible for him to refinance his mortgage from other sources.

Lovgren`s attorney-Leo Schwamberger, of LaSalle-said the bank never sought to foreclose on the farm before announcing the auction.

``They just advertised the sale without his permission,`` Schwamberger said.

The state Supreme Court ruling reversed a decision by a Bureau County Circuit Court judge who had dismissed the suit. The case now goes back to Bureau County.

The high court, in an opinion written by Justice Howard Ryan, outlined several legal grounds on which Lovgren could bring suit for violations of his privacy. Though Ryan disagreed with the initial grounds on which Lovgren`s suit was based, he said the circumstances would allow a suit contending his privacy was violated by the ``publicity placing a person in a false light.``

Schwamberger said the bank eventually took possession of the farm under foreclosure laws. Lovgren is now semiretired, Schwamberger said.

In other action the state Supreme Court:

- Upheld the validity of the ``multiplier,`` which is used in the calculation of property taxes throughout the state. The court rejected a challenge filed by several taxpayers in Cook County.

- Suspended David M. Uhler II, a lawyer in Belleville, from practicing law for three years for using more than $25,000 in client funds for his own personal and business expenses. In a dispute over attorney advertising, another Downstate lawyer-Gary E. Peel, of Edwardsville-was censured by the court for describing himself as a civil trial specialist on his office stationery.

- Suspended Chicago lawyer Ronald Sherman Samuels, once a Republican candidate for city clerk, from practicing law for a year. He was accused of failing to file lawsuits or take other timely legal action on behalf of four clients he represented between 1977 and 1982.

Samuels, 48, who has his own law firm, Ronald S. Samuels & Associates, 123 W. Madison St., had no comment on the court`s action. He was chief of the consumer fraud unit under former Cook County State`s Atty. Bernard Carey and ran unsuccessfully for city clerk in 1975.